2015-03-03T20:20:44ZOctave Mirbeau: Two Playshttp://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/690
Title: Octave Mirbeau: Two Plays
Authors: Hand, Richard. J
Abstract: Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), the acclaimed Decadent novelist, was also a successful dramatist whose controversial plays have been shamefully overlooked in English cultures. These first translations of Mirbeau’s drama redress this neglect and present for the first time in English one of the towering achievements of twentieth-century European theatre. The volume features Business is Business (Les Affaires sont les affaires, 1903), an extraordinarily dark comedy showing the life of the diabolical millionaire Isidore Lechat. Ruthless and unethical, he has never known failure as he pitilessly tyrannises all around him. However, Mirbeau charts what happens when fate conspires against Lechat in the space of one day. It is a meticulously crafted play of exquisitely drawn characters that journeys between hilarity and genuine pathos. The companion piece is Charity (Le Foyer, 1908), Mirbeau’s eviscerating satire on charity organisations. Baron Courtin is the very image of liberal integrity, but his charity home for girls holds appalling secrets. Another masterpiece of satire, Mirbeau’s Charity succeeds in taking the audience on a journey that can be hilarious one moment and horrifying the next. Together, these two masterpieces provide a fascinating insight into Belle Époque France and its wider European theatre context, but they also continue to have a powerful social resonance in our own time. In addition, they are both wonderful scripts for practical exploration with an array of rich characters, brilliant dialogue and theatrical potential. The preparation of this critical edition was supported by a grant from the AHRC.2013-11-06T00:00:00ZJimmy McGovernhttp://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/684
Title: Jimmy McGovern
Authors: Blandford, Steven2013-11-06T00:00:00ZTransatlantic terror! French horror theater and American pre-code comicshttp://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/492
Title: Transatlantic terror! French horror theater and American pre-code comics
Authors: Hand, Richard J.; Wilson, Mike
Abstract: At first glance it may seem farfetched, if not ludicrous, to draw a parallel between French theater of the modern period and American comics of the 1950s. In the case of the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol (1897–1962), however, and the pre-code EC comics (1950–55), there are not merely a number of formal and thematic parallels to be drawn but several points where the Grand-Guignol can be seen to have had a direct influence on EC's titles. This influence can be detected in EC's direct reference to the Grand-Guignol's legendary status as the “The Theatre of Horror,” but there are also instances where EC makes use of Grand-Guignol archetypes or “borrows” storylines from the French repertoire.This article will investigate the hitherto neglected link between two specific examples of French theater and American comics both of which came to share a monumental significance—and notoriety—in their respective fields of popular horror culture. The article will give an overview of their respective legends before looking at the parallels between their formal structures, theme and content.2012-04-29T23:00:00ZUndead radio: zombies and the living dead on 1930s to 1940s US radiohttp://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk:80/dspace/handle/10265/491
Title: Undead radio: zombies and the living dead on 1930s to 1940s US radio
Authors: Hand, Richard J.
Abstract: The zombie is ubiquitous in popular culture: from comic books to video games, to internet applications and homemade films, zombies are all around us. Investigating the zombie from an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on deep analytical engagement with diverse kinds of texts, Better Off Dead addresses some of the more unlikely venues where zombies are found while providing the reader with a classic overview of the zombie's folkloric and cinematic history.What has the zombie metaphor meant in the past? Why does it continue to be so prevalent in our culture? Where others have looked at the zombie as an allegory for humanity's inner machinations or claimed the zombie as capitalist critique, this collection seeks to provide an archaeology of the zombie-tracing its lineage from Haiti, mapping its various cultural transformations, and suggesting the post-humanist direction in which the zombie is ultimately heading.Approaching the zombie from many different points of view, the contributors look across history and across media. Though they represent various theoretical perspectives, the whole makes a cohesive argument: The zombie has not just evolved within narratives; it has evolved in a way that transforms narrative. Hand’s chapter looks at radio zombies.2012-04-29T23:00:00Z